by Anna Randol
“Because I’ll ask them.”
Curse it. Perhaps it would be best to refuse the assignment after all. If that was her plan, she had about as much chance of succeeding as he did on his own. “And if they don’t agree, Miss Valdan?”
The steady calm in her gaze fractured and she rose to her feet. She chewed nervously on her lip, leaving it moist and rosy. “Madeline. My name is Madeline.” She peered up at him with wide eyes. “They will agree, won’t they? I mean, it makes sense.” She placed her hand on his chest, its weight light, uncertain. “I didn’t want to do this, but what other option do I have? What lady would trust me in her house as a maid? And I’m not well-bred enough to be a governess.”
Despite the seductive warmth of her touch, he wasn’t about to feel sorry for her. He removed her hand. “You chose this.”
She drew in a deep breath. “You’re right. And I do have a plan.”
“Your plan is to ask them?”
“It’s a good plan. The men are gentlemen. They’ll honor their bets.” When her hands trembled, she tucked them behind her.
Heaven save him from naive fools. Without her veneer of bravado, she appeared barely out of the schoolroom. “Just because they’re gentlemen doesn’t mean they’ll act like it.” He wanted to brush his thumb across her lower lip to save it from the abuse of her teeth, but he feared if he touched her lips, he’d want to touch the slender column of her throat. And once his fingers had skimmed over her throat, he’d be unable to stop them from dipping lower.
And he wasn’t one of her lovesick swains.
“You’ll help me?” She reached for him again but then dropped her hand as if afraid of rejection.
The small sign of vulnerability ensnared him in a way her seductive glances never could. “I’ll do what I can.”
Her breath came fast and shallow, causing her breasts to strain against her bodice. “I know.”
He swallowed roughly as she leaned toward him. He needed to tell her he wasn’t interested. But when he spoke, his voice was raspy and deep. “Madeline—”
She pulled back with quick determination. “That is why they’ll agree.”
He stared at her through the muddled haze of lust. “What?”
She dusted off the front of her gown as if to rid it of any hint of their interaction. “Every man has a weakness. Pride, vanity . . .” She allowed a deliberate pause, a mocking grin curving her lips. “The desire to protect. Any weakness can be turned to my advantage.”
Gabriel stalked to the far corner of the room until the urge to wrap his hands around her neck faded. She had played him. She hadn’t even needed to snap her fingers to bring him to heel. “You intend to manipulate every man in England?”
“As amusing as that would be, it isn’t necessary. Once the first few agree, I’ll point out that anyone who refuses must have something embarrassing to hide.”
He exhaled through clenched teeth. Forget she made a fool of you. He’d wanted her to have a plan, and apparently, hers was far better than he’d given her credit for. But fury, and a disturbing amount of frustrated desire, still drove him. “So you plan to dupe them into paying you a fortune?”
She frowned. “No. They’ll get what they pay for. My virginity. I’m merely trying to ensure they don’t cheat me.”
“By preying on their weaknesses.”
She crossed her arms. “It’s not a crime to discover fantasies. You do the same thing.”
He glared at her. “Nonsense.”
“When you capture a suspect, you ferret out their weaknesses first, do you not? You watch for the lies and the fears, then you exploit them to gain a confession. The only difference is that my process ends with a pleasant interlude in bed and yours ends on the gallows.”
His fists tightened until his hands ached. But Miss Valdan was right, curse her. Besides, he couldn’t risk provoking her further. The more he thought about it, the more perfect this opportunity was. By working for Madeline, he could investigate the men of the ton without their knowledge. Hell, perhaps they’d even help. “What else do you need me to do?”
She hesitated, and for a moment, he was positive his bitterness had lost him the assignment.
The door opened and the butler entered. This time a blue ribbon and pheasant feathers trimmed the man’s hat. He carried a tray containing tea and biscuits, which he set on a small table. Madeline didn’t spare the butler’s strange attire a second glance. Instead, she lowered herself onto the settee and motioned to the chair across from her.
Gabriel sat. He’d be harder to throw out if he was drinking tea.
She poured with a grace more befitting a lady of the manor than a woman of the streets. Even his mother would have approved. She offered him a plate of biscuits. “I will also require the sexual histories of the top bidders. That information, I assume, they will be less anxious to part with.”
At least she’d decided not to throw him out.
“My desire to fulfill fantasies only goes so far. I won’t share a bed with a madman, no matter how much he pays. Nor do I want to end up with the pox as a memento of the evening. While financial information can be supplied by a banker or solicitor, this portion of the assignment will require an investigator familiar with the darker environs and back alleys of London.”
That he was. Since Susan’s death, he’d spent little time anywhere else. The more violent and depraved the criminal he hunted, the better. He held out hope with each arrest that someone would have a clue that would lead him to his sister’s killer. As the months and years had passed, he’d recognized the growing improbability of that hope. Yet he couldn’t stop.
Besides, if Miss Valdan wanted a proper investigation, not only would he look into the whorehouses and bordellos, he’d have to interview her bidders’ staffs as well—butlers, valets, maids. All people who would know of their masters’ proclivities.
And their whereabouts the night of the Simm murder.
Gabriel nodded in acceptance.
“Also, for the next fortnight, I need you by my side when I’m seen in public.”
“What?” That sneaky cur Potts had left out that detail. “I can’t investigate if I’m escorting you.”
“I’m not asking for much time. A couple hours in the morning when I drive in the park and in the evening when I appear at my chosen entertainments. The rest of the day belongs to you.”
It sounded reasonable, but he had no desire to spend that much time in her company. “I didn’t think you lacked for escorts.”
“Do you know Lady Golpin?”
Gabriel shook his head at the change of topic. “Not that I remember.”
“She owns a fantastic diamond necklace. It is enormous. She only wears it if she is accompanied by two armed footmen.”
He took a bite of his biscuit and waited. Although he might dislike her methods, he’d begun to suspect that a calculating, logical mind worked inside that beautiful head.
“Everyone is so impressed by the security that no one has thought to question the actual worth of the piece.”
“And they should?”
Madeline smiled, a mischievous grin that harkened back to girlhood pranks. “It’s paste. She’s actually only a stone’s throw from losing everything to her creditors.”
A matching grin threatened to form on his face until it occurred to him that her smile was likely a ploy calculated to draw that reaction from him. To gain his compliance.
“It is in my best interest to look like I have something worth protecting.”
He stilled as another correlation to Lady Golpin occurred to him. “Lady Golpin uses this tactic to hide the truth. Are you doing the same thing?”
Would she admit it?
“Are you asking me if I’m a virgin?” She looked thoroughly entertained by the question. “Why do you care, Mr. Huntford?”
Gabriel placed the biscuit on his plate. He didn’t care, yet he found himself leaning forward. “I think I should know the value of the commodity I’m protecti
ng.”
“Immense, of course.” She blew gently on her cup of tea.
Tiny pinpricks covered his arms as his body reacted to the imagined sensation of that air moving over his skin. “It’s my reputation you’re hiring as well as my skills. Are you a virgin?”
She sipped her drink and swallowed, sending a ripple down her throat. “What else could I be?”
“Very clever or foolish. Are you truly untouched?”
The sparkle in her eyes dimmed, and she returned her cup to the tray. “I never claimed that. If you want further assurance, you’ll have to bid on me yourself.” She rose to her feet. “Now I also must be clear that I have several rules I will insist upon. First, all information you discover will be reported to me, no matter how insignificant it might seem.”
Gabriel nodded. He’d give her any information that might affect her auction. He would not be telling her, however, about his own private inquiry. He’d do everything she’d hired him for. If he chose to do more, that was his business. He quelled a stab of guilt. He hadn’t lured his suspects into bidding on her. With or without his involvement, they’d still be pursuing her. In fact, she was safer because of him.
“Next, your investigation into my bidders’ private lives remains private. I won’t risk scaring potential bidders away.”
That suited his purposes perfectly. “Anything else?”
“One last thing. Your only payment will be monetary. Under no circumstances will I sleep with you or pleasure you in any way.” Her gaze swept over him, lingering on his lower body. “No matter the size of the bulge in your trousers. Are we agreed?”
Resisting the urge to look down, Gabriel gave a curt nod. “I’m at your service.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANNA RANDOL lives and writes in sunny Southern California. When she’s not plotting sexy storylines, she’s usually eating chocolate, having wild dance parties with her kids in the living room, or remodeling her house, one ill-planned project at a time. Anna loves to hear from her readers through her website at www.annarandol.com or on twitter @AnnaRandol.
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COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from A Secret in Her Kiss copyright © 2012 by Anna Clevenger.
Excerpt from Sins of a Virgin copyright © 2012 by Anna Clevenger.
A MOST NAKED SOLUTION. Copyright © 2012 by Anna Clevenger. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062121721
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062121738
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